Nite Versions

Remix album greatly improves on last year's disappointing Any Minute Now.

Not the biggest fan of remix albums, I can do redemption. Any Minute
Now got good enough marks but damn did it bomb big for me,
especially since its cranky leadoff single "NY Excuse" was in arm's reach of "Yeah" in 2004's punkfunk marathon. Soon word
of Duran Duran-repping "Nite Versions" of AMN tracks fluttered
about-- self-done electro retakes fitted for the floor but still
uncompromisingly rock-- and a few popped up on that punch-drunk Radio 1
broadcast mix the 2manyDJs brothers did for the BBC back in January.
When the NV'd "Krack" slowed down summer jams to slurry, breaking up the
BPMs like "Jamrock" did in hip-hop sets, I had a feeling: A whole album
of this shit and we'd have a cruder, crunchier Homework.

Figures, Soulwax lead off NV with a cover of Daft Punk's
"Teachers", names changed for a who's who of dance-rock forefathers
(which to my chagrin, includes the goddamn the Who). In the vein of
"AC/DC aren't a metal band, they're a dance band," "Miserable Girls"
grinds hard enough to get on one of those X-Games comps, seering guitar
lead and convicted vox trapped interminably in echo. Still these are
tracks before new-wave anthems, breakdowns before makeup, with emphasis
on the vertical and the power of repetition. Even the vocal hooks are
kept to snippets: "It's not you, it's the e talking," or "compute it!"
or once is enough, "James Brown is dead."

Like for Munk or LCD Soundsystem, the authority (or something) of live
sound plays a part in the NV lure, but Soulwax never overstate. When the
comicbookishly dark holds on "Slowdance" give out for the bridge, those
sixteenths on the high hat effect a lot on their own; "I Love Techno"
benefits from heavy-handed drum pounds that hold back the song's twitter
and Blondie bassline; the legendary "NY Lipps" mash between "NY
Excuse" and "Funky Town" speaks for itself. These are simple tracks,
sure, confident enough to lay their soundmakers bare (and vice versa),
but such staunch anti-pussyfooting/anti-mysticism makes Soulwax a bit
more democratic, palpable too. They play what's humanly possible for a
quartet, and in fact, rumor has it they may even be playing these nite
versions live in Philadelphia at the NYE Making Time party. And if they
play NVs track-for-track, as they're peerlessly mixed on the CD, those
minor strings that course teary-eyed closer "Another Excuse" won't drop
the ball.